Fluorescent nanoparticles for chemical and biological sensing

Fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs), including quantum dots (QDs), dye-doped NPs, and rare earth-based NPs, etc., have been a major focus of research and development during the past decade. The impetus behind such endeavors can be attributed to their unique chemical and optical properties, such as bright fluorescence, high photostability, large Stocks shift and flexible processability. The introduction of fluorescent NPs into analytical chemistry has opened up new venues for fluorescent analysis. In this review, we focus on the developments and analytical applications of fluorescent NPs in the chemical and biological sensing of pH, ions, organic compounds, small biological molecules, nucleic acids, proteins, virus and bacteria. The review also points out the in vitro and in vivo imaging application of fluorescent NPs at the cell and body levels. Meanwhile, the advantages of NPs brought field of sensing and signal transductions are also discussed.